One year and one hell of a ride

New place, New Country, New people, New friends, The first year of marriage, understanding the realities of the marriage, understandings and misunderstandings, countless pictures, miles, and miles of walking, Hiking, running, biking,witnessing some drastic weather conditions(like never before), Reading tons of books, Numerous Hikes, Baking my first cake,Falling sick again and again,Praying for someone when an ambulance passes by to being in one, to spend a night in the Emergency room and praying never to be there again, to picking the right kind of milk, gluten free , soy free,dairy free food,witnessing the first baseball game ,(Any game for that matter),to be a part of the awesome Coldplay concert, to keeping myself strong.I have seen it all.Life gives you unexpected things at the most unexpected time.

Oh Yes, It was after all that I wanted, I wished for!! It was my decision indeed.I wanted to take that risk.Kind of wanted to evaluate myself, of where I stand.What Am I without the job?I wanted to see how I can express myself without the job.To achieve it all, the risk was necessary. Or in short, I was fed up of the routine Corporate life!! So yes, I landed up here after three months of my marriage.I decided to everything that comes my way very positively.I wanted to try all the options possible.I didn’t want to be the sad H4 dependent wife who ends up writing depressing stories being unemployed. And spend my time shopping alone.No, definitely I did not want that.I wanted to spend these days meaningfully.There were days I was depressed, sad and angry.But I would Pick myself up and start looking to things that help me improve myself.I took this as a challenge, as a boon, to better myself, to explore things that I had neglected all these years or never got a chance to try.All through this, my super amazing Husband has been very supportive !! You know what they say, your life depends on the life partner you chose.He never said no to anything I want to do.He just has 2 things to say to me.One is “Take your ID card with you” !! and “Please don’t straighten your hair”.Rest of the things are sorted out.Other than that whenever I show my helplessness being not able to work here, he would tease me saying he will write an article about ” Struggles of H1B husbands” lol.

When I landed here it was almost the end of fall and Winter was about to begin. I had heard enough about its horrors.I was looking for options on how to make use of time.Tried a bit of craft and stuffs for a bit.I have a very little patience with all that and I got bored in no time at all.I was always a Journal girl.I write when I am Happy, I write when I am sad.I still keep my journals I wrote in High School very close to me. I was sharing my boredom with my Mother one day, she was like ” why don’t you write an article” and it all started from there.!!!You know they say Mothers know best.

I wasn’t doing good health wise, first few months were really difficult.I was falling sick again and again.And I was being treated like a patient.when in my age you don’t want people to be asking about your health.After paying so many hospital bills I decided to keep my health under control myself.I decided to work out!!!I had traffic to blame, my work, for not keeping me fit before.But I was always a walking person.I had a practice going for a walk at least 30 mins a day and had practiced Yoga while in Mumbai for few months, But again I have a lot of excuses to give for not continuing them.But not now.I continued to walk here too and a bit of Cardio 4-5 days a week.It was April that we decided to participate in this fun run called Hot Chocolate Run The run wasn’t as much fun as expected because of the rain mainly.But we loved the whole process of getting ready for the run as it was the first time for both of us and we got a good hold of it and we got into the habit of running and never stopped.I can tell you Running is rejuvenating, therapeutic etc.But it shows you a whole new You.It’s about pushing yourself to do that extra 0.5 / 1 mile.And when you do it, that feeling of accomplishment is beyond explanation!!. One thing I realized, however, I work out, I didn’t lose much weight, I still looked chubby enough to look fat.That’s because of no control over food.I am a Foodie, a Hearty eater you can say.Anything that’s tasty catches my eye.And I have no control over once I catch the taste of it.I don’t understand some terms like,”its all 60% diet and 40% workout”, “Portion Control”, “Less fat, more carbohydrates “, “Dairy Free” etc.I am too lazy to be obsessed with the food I eat.From not Running at all to Running 1 Mile/20 minutes to Running 1 Mile /11 minutes, I have come a long way and that I can not explain with How I Look :P.JUST Do IT is the Mantra.My husband and I when we look at ourselves, we laugh, because for both of us this year has been the most “active” year of our lives till now.

I was fortunate enough to volunteer few times from the Company I worked.So I was looking for an Opportunity here as well.When I started looking up online, OMG I was shocked to see how much this country values one’s time given on volunteering.There were a lot of opportunities.But I opted to volunteer at the Library.I was happy to do any kind of Job, But looking at my qualification and work experience I was offered to do computer Tutor job.And I totally love it.I am a story person, I tell stories and listen to stories, So this job has helped me meet people from all walks of life and know their stories.This has helped a lot in my personal growth.My days don’t start in front of the computer & just end in front of the computer.I do a variety of things all through the day.Some days I feel I am having the time of my life.

Volunteering at the library not only helped me get to meet people and work with them also, It helped me to visit the library regularly and borrow lots and lots of books(Old school).I was so overwhelmed when I heard I could borrow 30 books at a time. I have the habit of reading from books than ebooks or reading on screen.I like the smell of the old books.You’ll catch me sniffing the book more often.I am here getting some experience under your belt before moving into something more permanent, volunteering in a library can provide excellent benefits for you, the library, and the community you serve.

Cooking, Tried them all: From baking my first cake to cooking Mudde & Bassaru, to cooking Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani, to making Holige(a sweet dish) I have tried them all.I was always a Foodie.It’s like I am always hungry 😛 So I loved to cook always and I knew how to make things tastier.I like to keep things authentic.I would rather prefer calling up Mom than watching a random YouTube recipes.And yes there was a lot and lots of cooking and experiments, both failures and success.All the potlucks, get together with friends have been a great memory.

There is this Park called Loring Park, very much nearby my apartment.That’s like a second home to me.My friends had started teasing that I almost live there.This place is one of my favorite in the town.It’s a perfect place if you wanna get away from all the hustle and bustle.I love to walk, run, just sit there, read a book, people watch.Sometimes I would just walk around just admire the flowers in the garden.The park is very close to my heart.It had helped me get through my boredom.I had never seen so many sunsets in my life.I feel good when I say I watched more sunsets than Netflix.I am very much attached to nature.

There were times before where I was juggling my professional life.Some years I didn’t even get a promotion.So when a new year came or during an appraisal time I used to look for a year of what I have done, or achieved.It used to make very sad.I was right there at the same position where I was the previous year.But this last year of self-evaluation has brought so many changes in life.I have tried to take everything positively and took all the challenges courageously.Above all I am happy.Happy that I took the chance and risk.

Before I wind up I just wanted to add this pic.This has been one of favorite.I am not showing off my patriotism here.But being in India all these years I had never got a chance to touch the flag, in fact, last few years in IT I had almost forgotten out national festivals.Here I was fortunate to even pose with our National Flag!!!I got to celebrate all other festivals with much more interest than before.The experience was so much worth it.So ya it was one amazing year!!Well, This is my story!! One of the best years of my life!

44.974557-93.282455

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Published by

DhanyaKoogekodi

I have always been a journal girl, When I got married and took a break from the routine corporate life, I wanted to pursue my hobbies.Writing was one among them.So here I am :) Other than writing, I love to cook, a bit of artwork, a fitness freak etc.
I believe in believing myself..I believe in smiling, smiling a lot.I try to find happiness in small things.Because I believe small things are the best things!
View all posts by DhanyaKoogekodi

About Me

I have always been a journal girl, When I got married and took a break from the routine corporate life, I wanted to pursue my hobbies.Writing was one among them.So here I am :) Other than writing, I love to cook, a bit of artwork, a fitness freak etc.
I believe in believing myself..I believe in smiling, smiling a lot.I try to find happiness in small things.Because I believe small things are the best things!

Our Location

Footer Three Menu Widget

Front Page One Text Widget

This is a text widget. The Text Widget allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. You can use a text widget to display text, links, images, HTML, or a combination of these. Edit them in the Widget section of the Customizer.